“Jean’s For Sale” – Jean Grae Selling Verses…On Craigslist

Well, in an interesting turn of events (not really) in recessionary news, Jean Grae is going the Bizarre route in pursuit of the dollar. She’s selling 16’s via Craigslist.

So, the economy sucks…. I apparently have another unauthorized album for sale dropping Sept 30th and I figure, if everyones gonna make money offa me, why not make it directly and directly to the people who really love this shit anyway. Out the hands of big business, straight to you.

So.. you got beats?? cd’s?? envelopes?? yousendit?? protools? Whatever you got I’ll try and find a way to work with it. [Craigslist]

While I’m not one to knock the entrepreneurial spirit, it’s kind of disheartening to see a talented artist floundering, hocking her lyrical wares on the classified site. She does @ the “lol” @ the end of her description. Should I assume this is all a lighthearted jest? Or could those be the proverbial tears of a clown, laughing to keep from crying? Who’s to blame for this? Is it Jean trying to steer attention away from the release “another unauthorized album”?

I was just having a convo with TC & MZ after peeping LL’s Myspace rant directed @ Ed “standing out in the rain with high waters on eating a beef pattie” Lover and we all agreed that with so much media access and technological changes, the line between celebrity & Average Joe is being damaged. This is just another instance of my celebrities getting closer than I prefer. Does Jean not know that I’m a compulsive online shopper & I will buy my kid a birthday rap spit by none other than Jean Grae?

I honestly can say I pretty much stopped checking for Jean when she signed to Blacksmith. I had a suspect feeling things weren’t going to pan out like in the comics where the backpack hero would step in to save the heroine.

*inhale*
I dont think I’m allowed to go crucifying record labels, publicly but seriously….THIS is the definition of fucking up.
Kweli & Co. take notes.
When you have an artist who’s talented, hard working, has personality, sex appeal (if u wanna stoop that low) etc, and yet you STILL fuck up for 3 years running and do nothing with her, you create the above described situation.
I know for a fact that she’s actually already completed at least 1 or 2 featurings at this point, so she’s raked in about 2k in a week…but..DAMN. With all the shows Kweli’s been doing, the least he could do is have her as an opening act….seriously.
With all these other ventures, from Idle Warship, to whatever else he’s on…for Jean to be so hungry as to find herself backed into a corner like this…is felonious.
And fucking disappointing.
I’m not sure what is more disheartening. Jean’s actions, or the label’s inactions.
Hold ya head Jeanie.
*exhale*

By: LC Weber

09.22.2008 @ 1:16 PM

THIS is fucked up.

I had a dream last night I got in a screaming match with Karl Rove about how hard he fucked our shit up. I wish it had happened for real… the negative effects this administration has had on our economy and country is so far reaching it’s unfathomable.

By: E

09.22.2008 @ 1:21 PM

Does Jean not know that I’m a compulsive online shopper & I will buy my kid a birthday rap spit by none other than Jean Grae?

*dies*

By: Politixx

09.22.2008 @ 1:24 PM

Damn yo, didn’t think Kweli would get down like that. I guess Blacksmith aint the movement.

By: El Rosado aka Chi City Levi J...

09.22.2008 @ 1:26 PM

Well said, Contra. It’s extremely dissapointing that an artist as talented as Jean has had her career essentially held hostage by Label bullshit and has to resort to slanging verses on craigslist.

With that said, my wifey is a big Jean fan, might have to toss Jean some $$$ for a personalized verse lol

@ LC: That dream is crazy, but it just goes to show how serious and how intense this economy has gotten on us. I been reluctant to break my bread on anything other than groceries, rent, bills, liquor for the crib, and herbals. It’s bad, I had to trick off $1300 on the LSAT prep course and I was almost questioning whether or not I even should/is it neccessary and trying to determine if I could do well on the test without the prep class. If not for logic on the part of the misses (I work full-time and have mild ADD which is generally self-medicated with THC, but she suggested since I haven’t been in a classroom environment in over a year I could probably use the structure of an LSAT course) than I probably would not have paid for the course and went and took the test raw-dog.

It’s to the point where, since I get a tax-free CTA Chicago Plus bus/train pass with unlimited rides from my gig, I’m almost to the point where I want to give up my car, especially since wifey has hers and we can just share. I take the train to/from work and can do it on site visits too with it in the city, anywhere else in the state I need to go I can just grab the rental and charge it to the job. Losing the whip would save me $85 a month on insurance plus another $100 or so in gas. In short, I hope you gave Karl Rove the business in your dream.

By: g@grandgood.com

09.22.2008 @ 1:39 PM

you can add craig g, main flow, kool g rap and sean price to the myspace list. and 2mex to the craigslist list.

this ain’t some new shit for indies, its part of the hustle. except now it’s more visible. and i think some people could correctly argue that it could “hurt” their brand. but like anything else, i think it just depends how they go about it.

My only problem with artists sellin 16’s like this is they make it seem like they don’t give a fuck who they gunna work with, as long as the paper is right. Thats cool if thats how you wanna hustle, but its also kinda sayin something about your work. Like you aint got no standards? (no disrespect to Jean, I am a fan.) And not to say some of the tracks that come from this aren’t going to be good, but I don’t want to hear music you made because some random myspace artist threw you a few hundred. I want to hear music YOU wanted to make.

By: Bigga Aka Me Gusta el Grande Nalgas!!!

09.22.2008 @ 1:58 PM

It sucks that she has to go that route; but bills have to be paid. I don’t blame her 1 bit. The Blacksmith brain trust have to get on the ball and don’t let a talent like hers go to waste.

By: LC Weber

09.22.2008 @ 2:01 PM

@ El Rosado… ya damn right! Times are tough, my friend. More than half my friends are strugglin right now like never before… and someone has to be held accountable. This isn’t about the mistakes of the general public… this is the doing of a few greedy folks with little dicks and fat pockets to compensate.

Maybe it’s wrong to have a scape goat on this shit…but I sure as shit need one, and Karl Rove’ bitch ass fits perfectly.

Have faith, fam… it has to get better eventually. Right?

By: knowpatience

09.22.2008 @ 2:14 PM

seeing the direction that this country is taking is best summed up by Outkast’s “Git up, Get Out”:

“times is tough, my autie go enough
problems of her own, nigga you supposed to be grown
I agree, I gotta be the man i’m ‘posed to be
but negativity is all you seem to ever see”
(c) Cee-lo Green

don’t get me started, i can go on about economics all day. my business is providing financial services and I’m on the frontlines everyday talking to folks in all different walks of life. many people think that they can’t afford to take the steps towards getting their finances in order. my typical response is can you really afford to do nothing? it may seem easy to do nothing now, but the easy road will get only get harder and the hard road will only get easier.

By: DJ Bounce

09.22.2008 @ 2:22 PM

Jean said “Sooo… lets have some fun with it.. for ONCE in a long time.”

Do it I say!!!!

By: El Rosado aka Chi City Levi J...

09.22.2008 @ 2:30 PM

@ LC: I feel you on these corporate cats, what blows my mind about all of this too is they’ll wind up with some ridicolous severance package in the tens of millions if not hundreds that we have to pay the bill for as taxpayers even though they royally fucked up.

Things do have to get better at some point, I would hope. But just in case they do not, you should get that passport and list of countries you would like to live in ready. I’m leaning towards Chile, Puerto Rico, Amsterdam, and Cuba.

By: You're An Imaginary Player

09.22.2008 @ 2:35 PM

I posted this shit up on my blog the day I saw it, and I agree that it gets a big thumbs down for the corporations running hip-hop, but for anyone who wants a dope verse from one of the best female rappers to touch a mic, they should take advantage

By: knowpatience

09.22.2008 @ 2:37 PM

things do get better but only after we’ve hit rock bottom. all the commentary i’ve read so far suggests that we are not there yet.

By: texastoker

09.22.2008 @ 2:39 PM

with this economic storm on the rise, i wonder if listening to Immortal Technique will help keep my sanity…haha fck that. Viva La Revolution!!

By: Darrell Black Disciple

09.22.2008 @ 2:40 PM

Correct me if im wrong but isn’t Blacksmith the small label under- WARNER BROTHERS The MAJOR LABEL -(the corporation)

By: LC Weber

09.22.2008 @ 2:51 PM

@ El Rosado…

Switzerland, England, Italy…. shiiiit, Canada….

By: E

09.22.2008 @ 2:52 PM

times are tough in my house too…
so if anybody needs a weed roller, hit me up.
im a professional with my shit, perfect seams,
fatty-boom-battys, no runs, no holes u gotta plug that be havin u look like ur playin a flute when ur chiefin ur Ls. i have 15 yrs of experience, i can roll any type of cigar. i have a gang of references if needed. contact me for pricing.

By: El Rosado aka Chi City Levi J...

09.22.2008 @ 3:02 PM

^ LMFAO. Clowning yo, but yet at the same time, I now have an idea for a side gig for myself. Side note, am I the only one who can’t stand the mufugga in the crew who can’t roll? Every crew has one, some guy/girl who is always blazing/down to blaze but can’t pearl a vega or grape swisher if they life depended on it, to the point that they won’t even try. And on the flip side, you got cats who suck at rolling but always insist they “twist something up” and then roll a super cancer-paper.

@ LC: Canada crossed my mind, I love Vancouver, Toronto, and Windsor (only places I been) but that cold weather is a bit much. England is USA-esque scary to me too on some big brother/V for vendetta shit. Switzerland is dope but I think I would stand out like a sore thumb culturally speaking. Do they even know what salsa music is out there? I might go through withdrawals. Italy is always enticing, my little sister is trying to study abroad out there eventually, if/when she goes I might suggest it’s in her best interest to be out there, peremeantly.

Being in this Chicago cold has left me no other choice but to go somewhere with nice weather if/when I flee this country.

@ LC – I see you with Canada!!!
You may want to wait until our election tho – if Harper comes in for a second term, I don’t even know what the fuck I’m gonna do.
That said, if McCain wins, I’m either heading the fuck home lickety-split, or I’m selling my passport for as much as possible. I’m unemployed, after all.

co-sign. blunts should be rolled with nothin but your hands. (and tongue if you want to get technical ha). only one of my boys can roll better than me, but I only fucks with dutches (i don’t phillies mothafuckas (c) loso)…lol, not that I got anythin against other cigars, or that I can’t roll with em, but I just love dutches. grape all day.

phillies are made here in tampa (sabal park) by a company called hav-a-tampa, which also makes swishers…
my x-bro-n-law used to work on the cigar machines at the factory and 1 day called me up and told me to come thru with some trees…i showed up and he had a box of chocolate philly titans, which we immediately rolled up and smoked….i was slangin em for $5 for 1 cigar for about 2-3 months cuz they hadnt released at stores yet…shortly afta the chocolates they released the strawberry phillies…
they use a liquid to soak the outer paper in to flavor it…well my x-bro-n-law jacked a few bottles of that and soon we were prerolling Ls and then dipping them in the liquid and then drying them ovanight….
craziness….
ahh….the good ol days…

By: DiZASTiX

09.22.2008 @ 9:07 PM

damn, thats ill. thanks for sharing. considering how much I love blunts, i should know some history about em haha

shit reminds me of next friday when mike epps is clownin on the fat chick for havin new snacks before they come out…only you had that exclusive blunt game lol

By: E

09.22.2008 @ 9:15 PM

no doubt.
im not sure exactly when it was, it was eitha late 97 or early 98

By: Gotty™

09.22.2008 @ 9:36 PM

with this economic storm on the rise, i wonder if listening to Immortal Technique will help keep my sanity…haha fck that. Viva La Revolution!!
————————–
“Third World” = piff.

By: WiiRVenom

09.23.2008 @ 8:04 PM

yo DiZASTiX you a fool for that statement. I down in FLa and heard Jean before on a few folks tracks but she cute as hell she dont really rap like shes cute.

By: anthony a. gould

11.02.2009 @ 8:10 PM

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